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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [877v] (1771/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
616 PERSIA
developed by the social and official contact of nearly thirty years
between Persians and Englishmen. Scattered throughout the
Friendly country, where they are brought into frequent connection
relations w i t h all classes of the people, from a governor passing
along the highway to his official post to the peasants of the neigh
bouring villages ; constantly riding to and fro along the lines ; pos
sessed sometimes of a little medical knowledge, and willing to dis
pense a modest charity ; above all, absolutely superior to bribes, the
English telegraph officers in Persia may be considered mainly respon
sible for the high estimate in which English character and honour are
held in that country. They are often made the unofficial arbiters
of local disputes; the victims of injury or oppression fly to the
telegraph office as a sort of
bast
(Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location.
, or sanctuary, where they are
free from pursuit; and in the great towns the officers of higher
rank are the friends, and sometimes the advisers, of governors and
princes. If we contrast this state of affairs with the conditions
under which the first engineers and sappers entered the country, in
the face of daily obstruction, insult, and danger, we can arrive
at some appreciation of the good work that has been done.
Jealousy has been succeeded by confidence, and enmity has
given way to friendly intercourse. Lastly, among the benefits that
have accrued to Persia from the presence of the British telegraph
staff upon its soil, has been the local knowledge acquired by English
officers in this service, and subsequently utilised by the Persian
Government in the settlement of disputes affecting the region con
cerned. It was, for instance, the knowledge of Mekran gained by
General Goldsmid while laying the land wire from Kurrachi to
Task, that enabled him to act as arbiter in 1871 in the boundary
dispute between Persia and Beluchistan, and to suggest and
demarcate a new frontier for those countries.
Nevertheless, prodigious though the effects of the Indo-
European Telegraph have been in Persia, and honourable as is
Suggested ^ ie re P uca fi on which its officers have acquired, 1 am
meB°?f m y self astonished that a more ample use has not been
telegraph made by the British Government of the local influence
and knowledge of these men. Had they been Bussians
each one of them would have been an unaccredited but industrious
agent for the country of his birth. I am not suggesting that any
such spirit of irresponsible activity should be encouraged or even
allowed; but, looking back upon the policy that has hitherto been
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About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [877v] (1771/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000ac> [accessed 3 July 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain